Planes are packed full of people, some of whom are downright awful. Planes get delayed and our plans are ruined. Airline employees may want to help but they’re frustrated too — by all of the people giving them grief when they didn’t cause anyone’s problems to begin with.
So the little things, person to person, that add a little kindness to travel are extra meaningful. And where flight crew are involved it’s often crew at Southwest.
I just wrote about an Air France first class fare from the West Coast to London for ~ $1500 roundtrip. Incredible.
This fare is available as a one way for $636 as well. So if you want to get off in Paris you can manage this as a throwaway ticket.
Act fast this will not last. I have never seen Air France first class for less than business, not much more than coach. And for many Air France first is a unicorn, since very few people are able to ever redeem for it.
This will be Cathay Pacific’s longest flight, and the longest flight from Hong Kong. Cathay’s A350 has business class, premium economy, and coach but no first class.
Currently this flight has at least 5 business class award seats available pretty much every day.
In October Alaska Airlines flights were delayed because of a seal on the runway in Barrow, Alaska. Alaska’s Department of Transportation issued a warning to pilots about ‘low sealings’.
Barrow’s airport is back in the news this time for polar bears. And dealing with polar bears on a taxiway is complicated, because they’re a protected species. Airport workers can’t chase them off.
The Millemiglia frequent flyer program is one of the real dumpster fires of loyalty. And not just for doubling partner award prices overnight either.
Some loyalty programs expire miles. Alitalia expires the program. Everyone’s mileage goes away at the end of the year when the program resets. If you want your miles back, they have a promotion to earn them back.
Regardless always register for these promotions, even when they’re weak, because extra points are always better than a hole in the head (‘lokh in kop’) as my grandfather used to say.
Registration is live for Starwood’s first quarter 2018 promotion. And you should always take the 10 seconds needed to register for these, even if you don’t think you’re going to have stays that will earn points because you never know when plans change and new travel comes up and you will never remember to go back and register later.
During their Investor Day Delta detailed how they’re pursuing “Emerging High Value Customers” like college students.
Delta uses data from its co-brand partnership with American Express. They apparently see if you buy a ticket on United using a Delta American Express.
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Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
